President Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday he does not need to issue an executive order banning e-cigarettes and vaping in public places.

In a speech in Sarangani, Duterte said his order to prohibit vaping is covered already by a law against nicotine.

"You know, nicotine is prohibited. You cannot use nicotine here. I will arrest you. There’s a law. It’s based on the national law and the pollution and everything. It’s deleterious to the health. It’s a hazard to health," he said.

"Now, there’s a law regarding the use of nicotine. I do not have to issue an executive order. These fools are stupid. There's already a law about nicotine. If you use vaping in public, there is nicotine. And so without the other chemical combustion there, you are already violating the law in vaping because it contains nicotine," he said.

"Now, why am I ordering its confiscation? Because it is thrown to the consumers and under the Consumers’ Protection Act, if the thing that they --- we are importing is prohibited by the place where it was made, then automatically it is also not good and it is should --- should be by operation of common sense," said Duterte, who is a lawyer.

He cited that if e-cigarette is prohibited in Vermont, California, "the Consumers’ Protection Law says that if a thing is not legal there, where it was made or manufactured, then it cannot be legal here."

He added that chemicals used in vaping have not passed the Food and Drugs Administration.

"And (Health) Secretary (Francisco) Duque (III) says it’s bad. To whom shall I seek the medical expertise? Well of course I will listen to Duque, he’s the Secretary of [Health]. Otherwise, if I don’t believe him, I will just have to fire him. There’s no sense in keeping a person whom you will not follow," he said.

The Department of Health recently reported a first case of vaping-related sickness in the country involving a teenager in Visayas. Celerina Monte/DMS